If people want Matins, why does Matins vary? The experience of leading matins can easily become more about whether the people were pleased with the kind of Matins you led than what the BCP had to offer. We have a number of adaptations to Matins and we seem to have to follow them – why? There is a great responsibility when using these wonderful words, a sense of continued history and worship linking us through time back to Cranmer. So how can we fiddle with it? I love Common Worship too, and creating Services of the Word with a reasonable amount of freedom to respond to the congregation’s needs and the timing of the service. But that doesn’t mean there is no place for Matins and Evensong, also beautiful services. I look forward to the time when leading them is less of “were they happy with it?” and more of “where did it take us this morning?”.